Importance of Judicial Clerks: Lest anyone doubt the importance of judicial law clerks, or the role they play in the legal system:

A federal judge says a law clerk's illness has delayed a ruling on former basketball coach Nolan Richardson's discrimination suit against the University of Arkansas.



On Wednesday, [Judge William R.] Wilson told lawyers in the case that one of his law clerks had been ill with bronchitis last week and this week. That clerk has some expertise in employment law, the judge said, and he wants her to review his findings "with a fine-tooth comb" before he puts them in final form and releases a ruling.



"This case has had more law applicable to it than I anticipated," Wilson said.

Whoo, it's tough when cases have a lot of law in them. But this shows that a federal judge cannot possibly know everything about every case that comes before them, and thus, why the legal community should pay closer attention to the clerks, many of whom play an important role in shaping the nation's law.



For more on the case, see this earlier post and the article from Espn.com.

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